QNews for October 13th 2024

Q-News AR News from Queensland

Hi. I'm John, VK4JPM with an update from the Darling Downs Radio Club.

Our monthly member meeting is tomorrow night, Monday 14 October - at 1900 in the Toowoomba Library. The topic is 3D printing, and in one hour we'll do a bit of an overview for those of us who have only seen one once, in the presence of a master who can answer the curliest of questions.

It's amazing both how cheap 3D printing can be, and what a range of templates already exist for download from the interweb. From brackets to knobs to clips, to complete cases to... well, all kinds of parts that might be broken in your favourite transceiver or antenna mount. Some replacement parts can even be created to be stronger or better than the original.

On November 11th, Dave Nebe VK4DN from the Bundaberg Club will join us to update us on the Club's High Altitude Balloon Experiment. December 9th the topic is Software Defined Radios.

Details of tomorrow night's meeting will all be found on the website at ddrci.org.au. I'm John VK4JPM, and you can drop me a line - [e-mail]

Hello, I’m Geoff Emery, VK4ZPP, and I’ve been thinking.

Solar flares and thunderstorms seem to be the marker of the past week.

Contesters, over the long weekend, seemed to suffer the vagaries of space weather with contacts in some areas being significantly poorer than last year and others attaining record scores. On the other hand parts of the Sunshine State have been decidedly less than sunny with both acoustic and atmospheric noise reaching new highs for this season.

Overseas we have seen parts of the southern USA suffer the effects of not one but two weather events, namely Hurricane Helene and then Milton. One effect which in its way is a bizarre beneficial outcome has been the attention the services of amateur operators have been receiving from, particularly, the TV news. Making the public aware that there are means of contacting authorities and families outside the commercial services of the Internet and telephone is itself a public service.

Sometimes we need to raise our heads above the parapet and take a chance that we in Amateur Radio aren’t just old boys playing in their sheds but are people with a capacity to help. It has been, it seems, a lonesome cry of mine, to renew the strong public service ethic that was once found amongst hams. As people step through life, the things that are important change and there is a changing roll call in our active membership.

Some areas in VK-land still have strong bodies guiding the amateur community and some like Queensland seem to have lost the incentive or personnel to carry the torch for our pursuit.

Sadly I don’t see active promotion from our peak organisation which seems to roll on with things as they are. This is not a condemnation but an observation that we need a guiding star to put us back in a position which gives the activity of radio the respect and recognition it once had in the community.

As we see innovation happening in so many areas of AR, we also seem to observe more antipathy amongst our members. One thing that most volunteer-staffed bodies have is sustaining the number of people to carry out the core objectives. I have noted several not-for-profits in my area that have been appealing for new blood to keep their doors open. So it is not simply an issue that besets our clubs and other bodies, it is becoming universal.

Family commitments, health and age all contribute to the amount of time that I can devote to external activities. So it must be for many of us and here is the nub, we need to recruit and to skill our membership to see the social recognition continue. We must consider the options available to us as a community of like-minded people.

I still consider amateur radio a fine and enjoyable pursuit, but I wonder how I can best contribute to its growth.

I’m Geoff Emery VK4ZPP and that’s what I think….how about you?